Through executive action, Obama has banned ammo for the top-selling AR-15 style semi-automatic, labeling them ‘cop killers’, and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will put the ban of 5.56 mm ammo on a fast track, which already driving up price and demand.
Gun stores are now reporting an increase in price of 30% and an increase in demand of 1000%.
Wednesday night, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stepped in with a critical letter to the bureau demanding it explain the surprise and abrupt bullet ban. The letter is shown below.
The National Rifle Association, which is working with Goodlatte to gather co-signers, told Secrets that30 House members have already co-signed the letter and Goodlatte and the NRA are hoping to get a total of 100 fast.
“The Obama administration was unable to ban America’s most popular sporting rifle through the legislative process, so now it’s trying to ban commonly owned and used ammunition through regulation,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA, the group’s policy and lobby shop. “The NRA and our tens of millions of supporters across the country will fight to stop President Obama’s latest attack on our Second Amendment freedoms.”
At issue is so-called “armor-piercing” ammunition, an exemption for those bullets mostly used for sport by AR-15 owners, and the recent popularity of pistol-style ARs that use the ammo.
The inexpensive 5.56 M855 ammo, commonly called lightgreen tips, have been exempt for years, as have higher-caliber ammunition that also easily pierces the type of soft armor worn by police, because it’s mostly used by target shooters, not criminals. The agency proposes to reclassify it as armor-piercing and not exempt.
But now BATFE says that since the bullets can be used in semi-automatic handguns they pose a threat to police and must be banned from production, sale and use. But, as Goodlatte noted, the agency offered no proof. Federal agencies will still be allowed to buy the ammo.
“This round is amongst the most commonly used in the most popular rifle design in America, the AR-15. Millions upon millions of M855 rounds have been sold and used in the U.S., yet ATF has not even alleged — much less offered evidence — that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer,” said Goodlatte’s letter.
Even some police don’t buy the administration’s claim. “Criminals aren’t going to go out and buy a $1,000 AR pistol,” Brent Ball, owner of 417 Guns in Springfield, Mo., and a 17-year veteran police officer told the Springfield News-Leader. “As a police officer I’m not worried about AR pistols because you can see them. It’s the small gun in a guy’s hand you can’t see that kills you.”
Many see the bullet ban as an assault on the AR-15 and Obama’s back-door bid to end production and sale.
“We are concerned,” said Justin Anderson with Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, N.C., one of the nation’s top sellers of AR-15 style rifles. “Frankly, we’re always concerned when the government uses back-door methods to impose quasi-gun control.”
Groups like the National Shooting Sports Foundation suggest that under BATFE’s new rule, other calibers like popular deer hunting .308 bullets could be banned because they also are used in AR platforms, some of which can be turned into pistol-style guns. “This will have a detrimental effect on hunting nationwide,” said the group.
Banning armor piercing bullets is a good thing. Cop killer bullets should be banned.
http://www.sgammo.com/product/223-556mm-ammo/1000-round-case-556mm-m855-ammo-sale-prvi-partizan-62-grain-fmj-green-tip-pp5
M855 ammunition is produced by various manufacturers. Its primary distinguishing feature is a bullet that contains a small, mild steel penetrator at its tip, though most of the bullet (about 80%) is still lead with a copper jacket. The projectiles have a green painted tip for easy identification. The ammunition has been in military use for years and is nothing more than an attempt to increase the penetrating power of 5.56mm ammunition, particularly at greater distances. It is widely available, popular, and relatively inexpensive, on the commercial market.
As I’m sure regular readers know, rifles of the AR-15 family are the most popular sporting rifles in America, and of course, their ammunition is equally popular. What’s happening with the most recent controversy is the ATF is planning o ban this type of ammunition. Why? They’re planning to classify it as armor piercing.
This is an old ploy to ban guns by banning ammunition. Past unsuccessful attempts have focused on trying to ban any rifle ammunition that would penetrate the kinds of bullet resistant vests police officers commonly wear. By claiming such ammunition is armor piercing, anti-freedom thugs can claim they are protecting police officers, which is what they–Obama spokesman Josh Earnest, for example (see below)–are doing.
The reality is that virtually any rifle round will penetrate such vests, which are not designed to stop rifle ammunition. There are vests that can, but they are too large, heavy and expensive for daily wear. Armor piercing ammunition is specifically designed to penetrate actual armor, and requires bullets made entirely of depleted uranium, tungsten, or other hardened metals.
While this is just one caliber and type of ammunition, if the ATF is successful in this, it will establish a precedent that would allow government to ban any kind of ammunition in any caliber and for any reason.
Is there, however, any particular reason to ban this ammunition? Is it unusually dangerous? Is it commonly used to shoot police officers? Why now?
While the exact reason for the timing isn’t known, it’s likely no more than just the latest anti-gun push by Mr. Obama, though it could be an attempt to divert attention from yet another scandal that may come to light at any minute. There are no public safety reasons for banning this or any other commonly available rifle ammunition. The very design of the bullet actually makes it less deadly than other 5.56 ammunition used by the military and available on the civilian market.
The ATF is also claiming that M855 ammunition must be banned because it can be fired in a pistol. This too is deceptive. Virtually any ammunition can be made to fire in a pistol configuration if the pistol is large enough to accommodate the cartridge, but that does not make it inherently more dangerous. Rifle ammunition fired in short barrels is, in fact, less dangerous due to greatly decreased bullet velocity. Pistol versions of the AR-15 have been available for many years, but they are very large, cumbersome, and like rifles, they are virtually never used in crimes.
Actually he never issued this executive order.
So your OK with bullets designed to penitrate protective vest worn by police.
Seriously? Did you read my post? All of it?
Of course I did . I know hunting rifles are not AR15’s . You could use an AR15 to hunt, you could use a machine gun too, but people dont. You are right about handguns and the heavy ammo they are heavy and almost unusable. Armour piercing is fine for the military but not needed for civilian use.
I agree that civilian do not need armor piercing rounds. These are not armor piercing rounds. AR-15s certainly are used for hunting. That would be an excellent round for antelope. I’m not sure of when it changed but the .223 round was not legal in South Dakota for hunting deer – because it was not powerful enough.
I have a .223 It could kill a antelope, but not a lot of knock down power. Fast and fairly flat.
That’s real cleaver but ISIS and Alqaeda is one in the same!
It’s time for this country to ban Obama